


Blizzard

by what_a_dork_fish



Series: Uni [3]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: But it's there, Cuddling & Snuggling, Winter, the angst is not specified
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-22
Updated: 2016-10-22
Packaged: 2018-08-24 00:25:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8349019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/what_a_dork_fish/pseuds/what_a_dork_fish
Summary: Q found him only just in time.





	

How had he gotten himself into this mess, Q lamented. _How_?

He knew exactly how.

He pulled his coat closer and shivered, staring around dismally at his little hut he’d built. It hadn’t been hard; that had put his back up immediately. The walls were thick, the ventilation holes dutifully cleared every time it looked like they were clogging, the tarp he’d hastily grabbed anchored in the roof of the shelter and held down with stones, a thick floor of pine-branches covered most of the scraped ground. He’d dug a hole in the frozen ground with a palm-sized rock and now had a merry little fire going, which he fed slowly and carefully.

He glanced over, to the side. James was curled up on the floor of the little hut, not quite asleep, but not quite awake, either. He was better dressed for an outing in the snow than Q, but he’d also been outside longer.

Q looked back to the fire. It would keep for a little bit. So he crawled over to James and laid down behind him, shivering as he lost the heat of the fire.

“Don’t fall asleep,” he whispered to James.

“I won’t,” James grumped. “You’re too little to help be warm.”

“Fuck off, I am not.”

That earned a reluctant chuckle. Q counted that as a win.

The reason they were out here trying not to die was because they’d gotten into a fight; a stupid little thing that Q couldn’t even remember, but it had escalated until James had thrown on his cold-weather gear and stomped out for a walk “to clear his head”. It was only after Q had been left to fume silently to himself for half an hour that he realized it had begun to snow.

He’d checked the weather and his gut had soured. So he’d grabbed James’ emergency kit (James had an emergency kit for every weather anomaly it seemed) and headed out to find the stubborn bastard.

And now he had to feed the fire some more. He made to sit up, and James reached back to stop him.

“I’ll do it,” James offered, and reached over to add another bit of branch to the fire. That one had lots of resin on it; it would burn a bit longer than the other bits and pieces. Then he picked up the metal camp-cup that Q had been packing with snow until it was full of water and sipped a little. Q propped himself up on his elbow and held out his hand entreatingly; James dutifully handed over the cup, and Q had a few swallows before passing it back.

They emptied the cup too quickly, but with warmth in their stomachs from the heated water they were able to uncurl and sit side-by-side. The silence was awkward.

“…About what I said,” Q began, staring at his hands, curled in his lap.

“Don’t,” James rasped. Q looked up, startled, and saw something like pain on James’ face. “Just… don’t. Let’s not talk about it.”

“But—“

James got to his knees and peeked out through the flap of the “door”. Q sighed and drew up his knees, wrapping his arms around his legs and staring at the fire.

“I think it’s winding down,” James announced, scooting back from the tarp. “Have you got a tracker?”

Q repressed a contemptuous snort and pulled out his phone. Something must have shown on his face, because James’ face clouded, and he settled on the other side of the fire. Q pretended it didn’t hurt.

He fired off a few texts; one to Eve, one to Bill, and one to Uncle Boothroyd. Fortunately, they went through; unfortunately, his service dropped almost immediately, and he was left scowling at his phone and seriously considering hurling it into the tiny fire. But he knew that was a shit idea, so instead he activated the emergency tracker and tucked it in his pocket again.

“…Where are we again?” James asked.

“The woods on the outskirts of town,” Q answered, shivering. He was beginning to go numb. Carefully, he laid back, tucked his hands behind his head, and started doing crunches. He made it to forty before he had to stop and gather snow in the hot tin cup. By the time he had enough to drink, James had done several pushups, and again they shared the water. Then James sighed and scooted around the fire, opening his coat. Q was ashamed of how quickly he scurried over and climbed into James’ lap, making the other grunt in surprise, and hugged him tightly. James zipped his coat as far as he could with Q in his own fluffy anorak plastered to his chest, and wrapped his arms around Q.

“It’s just for a bit, you know,” James grumbled, but he curled tighter around Q and held him like he was never going to let go.

“I know,” Q murmured, resting his forehead against James’ neck. “Just until we’re warmed up properly.”

“Absolutely.”

~

“There!” Eve waved one arm frantically and pointed with her other. “I found them!”

“You sure it’s not just a hiker?” Bill panted as he climbed the slope to stand beside Eve. But she was already gone, bounding through the snow like a gazelle through grass.

“The tracker’s coming from there! James, Q, we—oh.”

“What? What is it?!” Bill plowed through the thigh-deep snow with renewed alarm. When he’d gotten that text… but then he saw the sly grin on Eve’s face and sighed heavily. Wondering what he’d see, he peered in through the flap of tarp that Eve held open.

What he saw was James and Q, asleep, with Q zipped into James’ coat and both looking very content. They must have only just drifted off, because their little fire was still crackling merrily, though there looked to be no fuel left for it.

“Shall we…?” Bill whispered, jerking his head back the way they’d come.

Eve shook her head, eyes glinting; then, before Bill could stop her, she crawled right into the little fort and shook James’ shoulder, waking both him and Q. They blinked blearily at her, then jumped, and fell over, tangled and yelping.

“Eve, what the—“

“This isn’t what it—“

Eve just laughed and Bill sighed fondly. Little idiots.


End file.
